1 year to study for Step 1-- advice needed

[kajNCgirl]

Hi,
I am a first year and am starting to plan out how I want to tackle Step 1. I am thinking about going into some of the more competitive specialties, so I want to do as well as I possibly can on Step 1. My school is on the organ module based system and gives 6 weeks off before the test to study, however I would like to start studying a few days a week throughout the year.

There is a lot of advice on this forum for study schedules starting a few months out, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on how to best use my time to study for step 1 starting a year out. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks...

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[HiddenTruth]

This question has been asked ample times by many people on this forum, as it seems that everyone on this form wants to get a 250+, who doesn't? Anyways, what you will hear by many people over and over again is to do well in your classes, learn the material WELL during your classes, and essentially that is your studying for boards. If you do that, you will be ingood shape, and 6 weeks is ample for a solid REVIEW (not to learn new material at the time).

If you really want to get a head start, then as you progress through classes (after 1st year, or whatever), grab a review book and review it. that way, you are systematically reviewing as you go along. But, again, your best approach is to study hard and do well in classes, and essentially you are studying for boards. Good luck!

 

[automaton]

i too did some early studying and i think it was a waste because i focused on the wrong stuff. i covered stuff like micro and biochem because i figured i forgot it all and felt like i should know it. well i forgot it all again anyway.

so if you're planning on preparing very early, focus on the conceptual stuff. know your physiology inside and out. incorporate that into the path you will be learning. as you go along, think big picture about the pathology and integrate the organ systems. if you see someone with uncontrolled diabetes (endocrine) think about hypertension (cardiovascular), think about glycosylated hemoglobin (hematology), think about renal failure and what that will do to EPO production and breathing (respiratory), think about what sugar in the urine will predispose to... like candida infections (infectious disease, reproduction). think back to the first year mechanisms about insulin resistance, what insulin does, how it produces intracellular effects, what biochemical steps are affected (e.g. ketoacidosis in type 1) and how all these things would present to you clinically. getting the big picture is in my opinion the highest yield when you're studying so early because they will stick the longest. obviously you will not know all this until you've covered the organ systems, but it's a good way to think about things. step away from the microscopic or lab presentation and think about how it would present to you as a clinician.

in contrast, spending time now to memorize the pharyngeal arch and pouch derivatives is low yield. save that for when you're really cramming the material.